Suburbs also will feel Daley's absence
Mayor Richard M. Daley's announcement that he will not seek a seventh term as Chicago's leader creates a power vacuum not only in the city, but across the suburbs.
"He was always our voice," said Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke. "He was the one who could call the speaker of the House or the governor or the president or whomever, and he would get his phone call returned. And many times he was speaking for all of us in what he was trying to do."
In that, the younger Daley was very different from his father, Richard J. Daley, who ran the city from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s.
"His father was very protective of Chicago," said Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson. "He saw some of the suburban development out here as a threat to the city, in job loss and residents leaving the city of Chicago. Rich Daley actually kind of stemmed that flow. Chicago grew in population, with people moving to the city."
Bensenville Village President Frank Soto also saw that regional focus in the younger Daley.
"When you look at the city of Chicago, from what it was before he was in office to what it is now, it's an amazing transformation," said Soto. "It really promotes the growth of the entire northern district of Illinois."
Yet it wasn't just leading by example. To a person, Daley's suburban counterparts credited his formation of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus in 1997 with ending a competitive relationship between city and suburbs and creating a symbiotic relationship that worked for all.
"I was just totally impressed from the moment I got there with the desire of the city to build a regional partnership," said Schielke, who served a one-year term as caucus chairman. "It had never been fostered or put forward before."
"(Daley) realized that the health of the city depended on the health of the suburbs and vice versa," Larson said.
Naperville Mayor A. George Pradel said Chicago was in "disarray" before Daley took power in 1989.
"It was a time we didn't accomplish a lot," he recalled. "So when he got there, the chaos was organized and we got on with business."
Pradel credited Daley with increased federal funding across the northwest corner of the state.
Schielke said Daley had a "settling dynamic" that emphasized finding solutions.
"In the mayors caucus, I liked to say that we checked all that partisan-politics stuff at the door," Schielke said.
Daley's tenure was marked by his takeover of the city's school system, the demolition of much of its public housing and a failed bid to win the 2016 Summer Olympics. He seized Meigs Field by caveat, and diverted an increasing amount of tax money in later years into tax-increment-financing districts critics called slush funds.
Chicago is forecast to have a $654.7 million deficit in a $3.39 billion budget for 2011, according to a July 30 estimate from the city. Daley filled holes in the current $3.12 billion budget by transferring cash reserves from the earlier privatization of parking meters, garages and a tollway.
His popularity was falling in polls. Yet, he continued to reinvigorate the city's downtown and create new tourist draws like Navy Pier.
Even so, Daley declared, "It's time," in a City Hall news conference Tuesday where he was surrounded by his wife, Maggie, and other family members. "It's time for me. It's time for Chicago to move on."
"Improving Chicago has been the ongoing work of my life," Daley added. "I loved every minute of it. There has been no greater privilege or honor than serving as your mayor."
Suburban mayors made it clear they felt they had benefited as well. Schielke pointed to Daley's support for removing the so-called Hillside Strangler bottleneck. He recalled Daley saying, "It's not in my city, but I have as many of my residents out there struggling to go through that thing as suburban people on a daily basis," and adding, "I'm ready to stand up and say we need to fix the Hillside Strangler."
"(Daley) was very quick to recognize when there was a divergence of opinion and maybe there couldn't be a consensus built," Schielke said. "But at least we were having a conversation so that everybody understood where everybody else was coming from."
As with Meigs, Daley could bulldoze the competition when push came to political shove. Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson battled with the city for years over expansion of O'Hare Airport.
"They ran all over us on that one," he said. Yet the village stood firm and lost little, and Johnson said relations remained for the most part good.
"We've always had good rapport with Chicago," he said. "The airport was the one issue we disagreed on."
Although Bensenville's Soto admitted the previous administration had an "antagonistic" relationship with the city over runway expansion, by the time his administration became involved in negotiations, he said they were "very professional," adding, "At the end of the day, we met halfway."
Schielke praised Daley's "visionary leadership," Larson his sense of humor. "He laughs," Larson said. "He gets it when you kid him a little bit."
Pradel, however, said he understood Daley's feelings about leaving, especially as their wives have shared bouts with cancer. "My heart is kind of heavy, broken," he said, "because I was looking forward to another four years - if I get the nod here - of working with him. I could just pick up the phone and call the mayor's office, and he'd say, 'What can I do for you?'
"His love for Chicago was only surpassed by his love for his family," Pradel added.
Similar sentiments about the Chicago mayor poured in from outside the suburbs as well.
Gov. Pat Quinn called the Daleys "two special people," adding, "They care about other people, they've got servants' hearts. ... They understand that being on earth is not about serving ourselves, but really to serve others. They've done that over and over again."
"I commend the mayor on his long service and respect this very personal decision," said House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat. "His record is one of remarkable accomplishments. One only has to look around the city center to know he was a major force in keeping this city and the region vibrant, alive and on the national stage."
Madigan put aside what a spokesman called "banter about the future" and speculation he might run to succeed Daley next year.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who served three terms in the U.S. House representing part of Chicago's North Side before being picked by President Barack Obama for the post, has said he would be interested in the job if Daley didn't run.
"That's always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives," Emanuel, 50, said in an April interview on PBS television's "Charlie Rose Show." "If Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor."
Emanuel issued a statement Tuesday saying: "While Mayor Daley surprised me today with his decision to not run for re-election, I have never been surprised by his leadership, dedication and tireless work on behalf of the city and the people of Chicago."
Yet Daley's suburban counterparts gave the impression they would welcome such a high-profile person in the position, and dread other potential outcomes.
"I think right now, on a state level, Illinois is just bend-over-backward crying for leadership," Schielke said. "And him leaving at this point just makes the void so much bigger."
Daily Herald wire services contributed to this story.
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<h1>More Coverage</h1>
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<h2>Photo Galleries</h2>
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<li><a href="/story/?id=406333">Images: The Daleys through the years </a></li>
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<h2>Stories</h2>
<ul class="links">
<li><a href="/story/?id=406318">Chicago Mayor Richard Daley won't seek seventh term <span class="date"> [9/0710/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=406526">'Mayor Emanuel' is no sure thing as Daley's reign ends<span class="date"> [9/08/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=406404">Suburbs also will feel Daley's absence<span class="date"> [9/08/10]</span></a></li>
<li><a href="/story/?id=406360">Text of Daley announcement he won't seek re-election<span class="date"> [9/08/10]</span></a></li>
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